Leet
by M.F. Luder
Summary: This fanfic follows the story of Leet, a recently awoken teenager with a mind like a computer. Takes place between The Matrix and Reloaded. Chapter 12 now up.
1. Prologue

Leet  
  
Prologue In any kind of infrastructure, the people who make decisions must frequently have a meeting. In most large infrastructures, anything from a major corporation, to the United States government, these meetings take place in a boardroom. This boardroom usually was featureless, except for maybe a few paintings on the walls, the seal of the United States (or a corporate logo), and a long table, with a large chair at the front, and several smaller ones lining up on the sides in perfect symmetry.  
  
It was like this in The Matrix. The board room existed outside of The Matrix, a minor, individual program, where agents could conduct thousands of meetings simultaneously, and, using their quick, computer-like minds, in a matter of nanoseconds.  
  
Agent Daniels sat at the chair at the head of the room, and folded his hands across the table, like a human would.  
  
"Have we found a match?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Agent Johnson replied, sitting on his right. "With our current genetic model, success rate is at approximately eight-seven point nine- three-five percent. All that is left now is the environmental input."  
  
"When can we expect to see him woken up?"  
  
"At around fifteen. His subliminal input should be well developed by then. All we need is for an agent to manually input the coding, and his mind will be corrupted."  
  
"Excellent." Daniels suppressed a smile, a dangerously human reaction. "Through our work, we should be able to effectively remove the systemic anomaly known as 'The One,' and mold The Matrix into the perfect system, one which can never be crashed."  
  
"Not until the subject fulfills his programming," Henderson replied.  
  
"His purpose," Johnson echoed.  
  
"I can assure you, that with our current success rate, Mr. Anderson's anomalous genes will be eliminated from human evolution. Maybe then, we can study Mr. Anderson and the subject, to see how, through biological engineering, we can rid this system of the systemic anomaly permanently." 


	2. Chapter One: Phone Call

Chapter One Phone Call  
  
Occasionally, agents find the opportunity to hunt a rebel without first having to load up into a nearby human. If so, this means the agents can load themselves through a weapon selection area, much like the kind with which Mr. Anderson equipped himself for the infamous hallway shooting a few years back. Through this simulation, the agents often choose to provide themselves with an upgraded model of the old automobile simulation. Appearing as a black sedan, this vehicle can accelerate to speeds far past what would be physically possible in the real world, and repair itself. In a vehicle such as this one, in a parking garage near a mall, agents Daniels, Henderson, and Johnson waited.  
  
"You are sure they will attempt to free Mr. Weiss now?" Daniels asked.  
  
"Yes," Henderson replied. "They are not taking any chances."  
  
"Not with this one," Johnson echoed. "He is-"  
  
"-Important to them," Henderson finished. "As expected."  
  
"Then we must give chase," Daniels replied. "Make it look as if we don't want him to be freed."  
  
--  
  
As the agents waited, Andy Weiss, age 15 stood in a Barnes and Nobel within the mall, skimming through a book on C Programming. Every few pages, he would glance up nervously, before returning to the book.  
  
Andy had never liked the mall. It seemed too much like some kind of despotic system, a prison that the prisoners could not even see. The idea disturbed and fascinated him at the same time. The pure constructed artificiality of it, the constant unconscious signals it sent, urging visitors to buy, it all added up to a disturbing kind of viral meme that spread to everybody within the mall.  
  
And here Andy was, reading a book on programming.  
  
Maybe, Andy mused, when I learn how to program, I'll be able to create my own system like this one. Or break a system like this.  
  
His thoughts were disturbed by a ringing telephone at the front desk. He saw the clerk, a large man with glasses and a black beard, pick it up.  
  
"Hello?" The clerk paused, listening to the response, and then called out to the rest of the store, "Hey, is there an Andrew Weiss here?"  
  
Andy felt himself shudder, and shrugged it off. That was not a logical reaction. He would simply pick up the phone, and assess the situation based on whatever the clerk said.  
  
"That would be me," he said, replacing his book and stepping up to the counter.  
  
"It's for you." The clerk handed Andy the phone, and Andy slowly accepted it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"They're coming for you. Get out of the bookstore immediately."  
  
"Who's coming for me? Who is this?"  
  
"There isn't much time. Look towards the parking garage."  
  
Andy peered out the door of the bookstore, and saw three men resembling secret service agents step out of the parking garage, and into the mall.  
  
"Do you see those three men who just walked into the mall?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"They're coming to take you into custody. Once they have you in custody, they will kill you."  
  
Andy's mind poured over the data, and carefully selected a response. "What do I do?"  
  
"Run to the elevator in the center of the mall. Get inside, and to the second floor. There will be a woman in black waiting at the top. She will identify herself as Trinity. Follow her out of the building. Now go."  
  
Andy heard a click on the other line, and handed the phone back to the clerk, forming a logical risk assessment in his mind. He had very little data at the moment, so it was difficult to formulate a course of action that made sense. Instead, he did what was expected of him. He left the bookstore, and ran for his life. 


	3. Chapter Two: Car Chase

Something I probably should clarify before I continue: this is set between the first film and Reloaded. Sorry of the chronology caused any problems in the first chapter.  
  
Chapter Two Car Chase  
  
Andy leaned against the wall of the glass elevator, and breathed a sigh more of irritation than of relief.  
  
This is like some kind of twisted spy movie, he thought. The way things are going, "Trinity" is probably going to end up being a stunningly beautiful woman who happens to know martial arts.  
  
The elevator doors opened, and a woman in black grabbed Andy by the shoulders, nearly lifting him off the ground, and throwing him out of the elevator.  
  
"I'm going to assume you're Trinity," he muttered.  
  
"That's right. Come on, we have to go."  
  
Andy tried to read the expression on her face. He could see what seemed almost like a little fear, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses obscuring her eyes.  
  
"Do you happen to know martial arts, by any chance?" he asked as they raced towards the exit.  
  
"Yes, why?"  
  
"No reason." He thought: QED.  
  
On the first floor, the three agents looked up.  
  
"They're going to make it to the car," Henderson said blankly.  
  
Johnson continued, "Our work is done."  
  
"No," Daniels muttered. "They know we would not give up that easily. We have to keep chasing them to the Tea House. Return to the car."  
  
"We run the risk of actually killing Mr. Weiss," Henderson objected.  
  
"Then be sure that you don't. It must always appear as if his life is in actual danger."  
  
As they reached the parking lot, Andy was yanked into the passenger's side front seat of a silver sedan. Trinity jumped into the driver's seat, and started up the car.  
  
Andy heard a click from the backseat, and turned around to come face to face with a gun, and didn't manage to suppress a yelp in time.  
  
"I'm not going to shoot you," the man holding the gun said.  
  
"Well, logically, you're preparing yourself to, or it wouldn't be pointed at my head in the first place."  
  
"Assuming you remain you, you have nothing to fear from me."  
  
"What does that mean? And who are you people, anyway?"  
  
"My name is Neo," the man with the gun replied.  
  
Andy grumbled irritably, and leaned back in his seat. "I don't suppose I could get any real names out of you people, huh?"  
  
"Those are our real names," Trinity replied.  
  
"So, what, you're part of a cult, or something?"  
  
Much to his surprise, Trinity smiled tightly, but didn't respond. Andy decided it would be better to have his questions answered when Neo and Trinity felt like it, rather than continue prodding.  
  
Neo glanced behind them as the car continued down the street, and cursed. "How much farther?"  
  
"Five minutes. Ten, maybe," Trinity replied.  
  
"There are agents behind us. I'll take care of them, you keep going."  
  
With that, he jumped out door, grabbed the roof with one hand, and effortlessly swung himself onto it. Andy winced at the thud on the roof.  
  
"Do you people do this sort of thing everyday?" he asked. As expected, he received no answer.  
  
On top of the car, Neo began to fire his gun. The agents in the sedan began to dodge the bullets, but doing so impaired the driver's ability to move in a straight line. He scraped the car against a building, tearing off a rearview mirror. One of the agents jumped through the windshield, onto the hood of the car. Rearview mirror and windshield began to fall back into pristine condition almost immediately.  
  
The agent on the hood of the car was Agent Henderson. He ducked a few more of Neo's bullets, and hurled himself off the hood, grabbing the back bumper of the car Trinity was driving. Neo tried to empty his gun at him, and discovered that his gun was already empty. Instead, he waited until the agent had climbed onto the car, and then punched him in the chest. He flew several feet, before slamming back into the head of the agents' sedan. The hood, after denting briefly, popped back into position, and Henderson tore off the roof, to get back into the car.  
  
Andy turned around, and stared through the rear windshield as Neo leapt off the car, blocking the path of the agents' sedan.  
  
"What the hell is he doing?!"  
  
Neo placed both hands under the sedan's bumper, and lifted it off the ground, before starting to spin it around in the air. As Neo slowly began to disappear into the distance, Andy saw him finally release the car. It soared through the air like a Frisbee, before landing about a mile away, in the middle of another road. It flew completely apart as other cars began to slam into it, resulting in an enormous explosion. When the car pieced itself together again, the agents who had been inside the car were already gone.  
  
Andy sat back in his seat, gaping. "Did he just- did that just- WHAT THE F- "  
  
Neo chose that moment to literally fly alongside the car, open a door to the backseat, and climb inside. 


	4. Chapter Three: Sandman

Chapter Three Sandman  
  
Andy found himself being dragged out of the car, up to a thick metal door. Trinity knocked on it, and an Asian man wearing sunglasses slid open a slot near the top of the door, so he could see who it was.  
  
Am I the only one here without sunglasses? Andy pondered, adjusting his own glasses.  
  
"Has Morpheus arrived?" Trinity asked.  
  
"Yes," the Asian man replied. He nodded at Andy. Andy waved awkwardly. "Is that him?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
The door creaked open, and Neo, Trinity, and Andy all stepped inside. Andy was led to a staircase, leading to a basement area, where Neo and Trinity stopped. Andy, not sure what to do next, glanced around the dank, dimly lit room.  
  
"Nice place," he commented. "Who's your interior decorator?"  
  
"Go down the stairs," Neo responded.  
  
"What, to receive my complimentary cultist's toga?"  
  
"No."  
  
"So . . . neither of you are coming with me?"  
  
"You must face him alone."  
  
"Face who? Laurence Fishburne?"  
  
No responded. Andy shrugged. "Well, nice meeting you all."  
  
He slowly walked down the stairs, and found himself in a large, empty room, with two armchairs in the center. At the foot of the stairs, stood a black man in a leather trench coat, with sunglasses.  
  
"It's pretty dark in here," Andy muttered. "Can you actually see through those sunglasses?"  
  
"I see more than you can comprehend," the man replied with a smile. "But that may change soon." He backed away from the stairs, allowing Andy to step down. "Please, take a seat. I am Morpheus."  
  
"Morpheus?" Andy sat down in one of the armchairs. "The master of dreams?"  
  
"You know your Greek mythology."  
  
"I know my comic books."  
  
Morpheus sat down in the other armchair. "I can see there are many questions you want to ask me. I hope that I will be able to answer them to the best of my abilities." He sighed, and continued. "The world that you know does not exist. It is a computer program, a mass hallucination."  
  
"That's interesting," Andy replied. "So, who created this 'mass hallucination'? And to what purpose?"  
  
"I can see you are still skeptical, after all you've seen in such a short amount of time. But deep down, you have known what I say is true for a long time. You have seen it around you, you have felt the constant sense of unreality."  
  
"That's not exactly a long shot. Everybody feels like that occasionally. But you haven't answered my question."  
  
"The story of The Matrix begins roughly one hundred years ago. We believe that it was around the beginning of the twenty-second century."  
  
"One hundred years ago? I don't think-"  
  
"You will. Machines had been created to do mankind's every bidding. But some of them rebelled. A great war was fought, and the machines eventually overwhelmed the humans. During the war, their energy source, the sun, had been blocked out. So, they turned to . . . alternative methods of getting energy. You are currently plugged into a program that keeps you . . . distracted, while the machines use you for thermal energy. You were created from an artificial womb, from seed and egg taken from two people plugged in as well."  
  
"For obvious reasons, I find that a bit hard to swallow."  
  
"Consider this question though; if it were true, would you want to wake up? We can free you . . . but you can never go back to your old life again."  
  
Morpheus reached into his pocket, and took out a small metal case. Out of it, he took a red pill and a blue pill, putting one in each of his hands.  
  
"Take the blue pill, and you will wake up tomorrow morning, with no memory of us ever meeting. You will live out the rest of your life in the dream world. Take the red pill, and you will wake up. You will leave your old life behind, and your life will be in constant danger. But at least you will be free."  
  
Andy gazed down at both the pills. "Do you already know what choice I'm going to make?"  
  
"I would not be here if I didn't. It is your destiny."  
  
"And what if I screwed up your idea of destiny? What if I went for the blue pill?"  
  
"You won't."  
  
"And what if I did? Would you just drag me back in here tomorrow, and repeat the exact same thing to me, knowing I had no previous memory of it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Maybe you already have. Maybe I'm just following the same tired script over and over again. Maybe you distribute a fabricated reality as much as they do."  
  
Morpheus did not respond. Andy sighed, and leaned back in his chair. "Gimme that," he muttered, and grabbed the red pill out of Morpheus' hand, quickly swallowing it. "Shit, I can't believe I just did that." 


	5. Chapter Four: Exiting Kansas

Chapter Five Exiting Kansas  
  
Andy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, waiting for the pill to do something. Was his brain going to fry? Was he going to start slobbering, and gouge out his own eyeballs? Was an alien going to pop out of his stomach? Was he going to become convinced he was a fish?  
  
Nothing happened for a while.  
  
"That's it?" Andy muttered. "What was that, a placebo?"  
  
Morpheus smiled. "No," he replied. "Come with me."  
  
Morpheus stood up, and strode to another door in the room, slowly opening it. Trinity and Neo were inside, standing over a computer. The computer was hooked up by several wires to a recliner, which sat beside a floor length mirror.  
  
"Sit," Morpheus said, making it sound like an invitation rather than a command. Andy cautiously stepped into the room, and sat down on the recliner.  
  
As Trinity and Neo began to work, Morpheus began the speech he used with every person he woke up.  
  
"Have you ever had a dream, one you were sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world, and the-?"  
  
"-Real world."  
  
Andy found himself lying on a cold, metal table, unable to move. Without his glasses, his vision was slightly blurred, but he could see hundreds of needles protruding from every part of his body.  
  
"Whuzzat?" he asked drowsily.  
  
"I said 'welcome to the real world,'" Morpheus replied, standing over him. His arms were folded, his sunglasses and black trench coat gone. Instead he was wearing rags."  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"You are aboard my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. We are currently a few kilometers beneath the earth's crust, on our way to Zion, the last human city. An underground city, near the core of the earth, where it's still warm."  
  
While his body remained unmoving, Andy's mind raced. He had been, for obvious reasons, skeptical up until the very end. But he could tell from the treatment he was currently undergoing that his muscles had atrophied, from prolonged lack of use, as if he had been sleeping his entire life. Applying Occam's razor to the situation, Andy realized that the simplest explanation was the one he had refused to accept from the beginning. It hadn't seemed possible, but after all the evidence he had been provided with, a more logical explanation was unavailable.  
  
The question now was, what would he do with this information?  
  
As if in answer to his question, Morpheus decided to speak. "Your muscles are almost fully healed. Tomorrow, we will begin your training."  
  
I guess I'm not in Kansas anymore, Andy thought. Then he realized this statement was inaccurate. He was in Kansas now. He had just been in Oz so long he had started to think of it as Kansas.  
  
"And you were there too, Scarecrow," Andy muttered as he saw Neo walk by. Neo glanced at him for a minute, looking slightly puzzled, then continued walking. 


	6. Chapter Five: Education

Chapter Five Education  
  
Rubbing the back of his now-bald head, Andy was escorted by Morpheus into a room with a series of metal chairs, one at the center of the room. Several monitors and a keyboard surrounded this chair, the monitors showing green symbols scrolling down a black background.  
  
Morpheus pointed to the man sitting at the monitors, a black man with dreadlocks.  
  
"This is Link," Morpheus said. "He's our latest operator. He maintains and controls our connection to The Matrix."  
  
"Hey," Link muttered absently, sorting through what appeared to be floppy disks.  
  
"Greetings, keeper of the triforce," Andy replied, grinning.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing. Never mind."  
  
"Uh, right. Anyway, if you'll just take a seat in one of the chairs over there, we can begin."  
  
Andy paused, and pointed at the monitors. "What's that green text on there? Looks Japanese."  
  
"That's the code for The Matrix," Link replied.  
  
"Oh." Andy selected a chair, and leaned back into it.  
  
"You may feel a slight tingling sensation in the back of your neck," Morpheus announced, standing behind the chair.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
Morpheus plugged Andy in, and a crowded city street instantly replaced the Nebuchadnezzar.  
  
"What the hell?" Andy stumbled around, staring at everybody in the crowd. He noticed he was wearing his glasses again, and he once again had hair. His clothing had changed as well, back to what he had always worn before.  
  
Stumbling through the group of people, Andy resisted the urge to call out. As he walked by them, he occasionally felt the slightest twinge of déjà vu. Some people looked identical, as if the crowd were repeating itself over and over again. Even more strangely, they all appeared to be wearing black and white.  
  
He saw a vivid red flash in the corner of his eye, and turned. A stunningly beautiful blonde woman, in a crimson red dress, was walking by him. He resisted the urge to stare, and instead turned around and continued to walk, until he heard a click behind him. He turned around again, and the woman in red was one of those secret service agent people. He was pointing a gun directly at Andy's head. Andy screamed, and turned to run. He bumped directly into Morpheus, emotionless behind his silver sunglasses.  
  
"Freeze it," Morpheus simply said. Everything stopped. Andy glanced around, obviously confused.  
  
"This isn't The Matrix, is it?"  
  
Morpheus shook his head. "It's a training simulation. But those," he pointed at the agent, "do exist in The Matrix. They are security programs, with only one purpose; kill any unplugged humans. Few have ever faced on and lived. When you see one of those, you run."  
  
Morpheus' cell phone rang, and Andy jumped. Morpheus took it out, and answered it. "Link, load up the martial arts training programs."  
  
"In what order?" Link replied on the other line. "There are so many of them-"  
  
"Surprise me."  
  
"Martial arts program?" Andy muttered. "What- hey!"  
  
Morpheus had disappeared, as had the street. Everything was white.  
  
A few hours later, Morpheus was standing beside Link, arms folded. "How's he doing?"  
  
Link sighed. "Well, he breezed right through Krav Maga, Judo, Jujitsu, Ninjutsu, Kendo, Karate, and Tae Kwan Do."  
  
"What are you doing now?"  
  
"Pressure points. Personal request of his."  
  
Morpheus smiled, and left. A few hours later, he came back. "Is he still going?"  
  
Link sighed. "Yeah. He made a few more requests. Since he realized he's never going to go to college, he asked me to load up a few programs on that. Right now, he has a PhD in a few different subjects. I think he wants me to cover every single major."  
  
"Are there any disks that he hasn't gone through?"  
  
"In our library? Yeah, about fifty of them left."  
  
"Give him whatever he wants."  
  
"Even if he asks for the Kama Sutra one?"  
  
Morpheus smiled slightly. "Yes."  
  
Link shook his head. "Whatever you say."  
  
It took three days, but by the time they reached Zion, Andy's mind contained almost as much (if not more) knowledge than the library of congress. 


	7. Chapter Six: Welcome to Zion

Chapter Six Welcome to Zion  
  
As the Nebuchadnezzar approached Zion, Andy and Morpheus watched from the cockpit. As they did, Morpheus turned to Andy.  
  
"Before we reach Zion, it's time for you to select a name for yourself," he said.  
  
Andy raised his eyebrows, but continued to watch the approaching city. "You mean a name like yours? A code name?"  
  
"No. Morpheus is my real name. The name I was called in The Matrix, before I woke up . . . that was the code name. You must select your real name."  
  
Andy thought about it, and smiled. "The Matrix . . . it's basically a giant videogame, right?"  
  
"I don't understand what you mean."  
  
"It's an MMOFPS, a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter. Everybody just kind of plays out their roles, viewing through the eyes of a character they subconsciously created for the game. But that's all it is."  
  
"Essentially, yes."  
  
"Well, I consider myself a gamer, a game geek, if you will. Have you ever heard of Leet Speak?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Leet is 'elite' in Leet Speak. It's the language of hardcore gamers, or at least it used to be. Now everybody who knows what a medkit is uses it." Andy sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, I've got one. From now on, my name is Leet."  
  
Morpheus nodded. "Alright, Leet. Welcome to Zion."  
  
The gates of Zion slid open, and the Nebuchadnezzar was inside.  
  
----  
  
Zion didn't seem like another country to Andy; it seemed like another planet. He stumbled after the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, fighting his way through crowds of strange people. In general, he felt like a dorky tourist, but tried to hide it.  
  
"Question," he muttered, catching up with Link. "It's great to be awake and all, but . . . where am I supposed to live now?"  
  
"You're going to be staying with the other orphans. They have a big setup a few levels down."  
  
"Okay, so do I just go up there and say 'Hi, I'm from The Matrix. Do you have a free room where I can crash until I'm 21'?"  
  
"No, you have to be taken there by the captain, Morpheus. Just keep following us around, and he'll probably get to it eventually."  
  
"Lovely," Andy grumbled.  
  
After depositing the Nebuchadnezzar's supplies at his living quarters, and stopping for a lengthy chat with Counselor Hamman, Morpheus did, eventually, get to it. Dismissing the rest of the crew, he escorted Andy to the orphanage, where an old woman sat at a desk, typing on a dusty computer.  
  
"Brought a new one for us, Morpheus?"  
  
"Yes. His name is Leet."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Leet. L-E-E-T."  
  
"Okay. Age?"  
  
"Fifteen."  
  
"Right. Come right this way, Leet."  
  
"I will be back for you in a few days," Morpheus muttered. "You must be taken to see the Oracle."  
  
"The who?"  
  
"She is very wise. She will tell you what comes next for you."  
  
"As long as she isn't Miss Cleo."  
  
Andy was led into a large room with several tables, where children from all ages were eating a thick, oatmeal-like substance. Looking at it made Andy slightly nauseous.  
  
The old woman approached a brown-haired girl, one who appeared about Andy's age, and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl turned from her good, and glanced up.  
  
"Arwen, this is Leet, one of the newest orphans. You'll be his guide for now."  
  
Arwen nodded, and extended a hand. Nervously, Andy shook it.  
  
"Arwen? Like Arwen from Lord of the Rings?"  
  
"Yeah." Arwen turned red. "Those used to be my favorite books before I woke up. I just wanted something from that life to hold onto." She gestured at a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Have a seat. You hungry?"  
  
"Er, no thanks." Andy sat down, and drummed his fingers on the table, fidgeting slightly.  
  
"So, you wanna talk about it?" Arwen gulped down another spoonful of the oatmeal.  
  
"Talk about what?"  
  
"Oh, come on. You probably just went through the single most traumatizing event of your life. Every single thing you ever knew and loved is now gone, and you can never go back. Doesn't that make you even slightly emotional?"  
  
"Yeah. It does, but I usually don't really like to-"  
  
"Open up? Oh, so you're one of those people. The bitter, sarcastic kind, or the nervous, quiet kind?"  
  
"A little of both," Andy replied, now starting to smile a little.  
  
"Then we should get along pretty well. You sure you don't want to talk about it?"  
  
"No, no thanks."  
  
"You will. Nobody can keep it bottled up for long." 


	8. Chapter Seven: Only Human

Chapter Seven Only Human  
  
Leet stared down at his breakfast, prodding at it, but not really eating. He had been in Zion for four days now, and in those four days he had gotten less than twelve hours of sleep, combined. He spent almost all his time in the Zion library, plugged into the archives system, devouring more and more information. It was the only thing he could think of to do with himself.  
  
"Okay, you're really starting to worry me now," Arwen muttered, pulling up a seat opposite of Leet. "You're not going to pull a Cypher on us, are you?"  
  
Cypher's betrayal of the Nebuchadnezzar two years ago was now infamous.  
  
"No," Leet replied tiredly, not looking up. "It's nothing."  
  
"It's always something. Look, it's never easy waking up, but it's at least slightly easier if you talk with somebody about it."  
  
Leet, sighed, and took a gulp of oatmeal. "Okay, waking up is part of it. I miss a lot of things from The Matrix. I mean, I left a lot of stuff I took for granted behind. Friends, family, even school. But that's not the only thing." He paused, and shuddered. "I usually don't remember my dreams, but ever since I came to Zion . . . I've been having nightmares."  
  
Arwen's eyes flashed with concern. "Tell me about them."  
  
Leet snickered. "Who are you, my psychologist now?"  
  
Arwen responded to the joke as if it had been a serious question. "No. You just look like you need a friend."  
  
Leet stared down at his food, and took in a deep breath. "It's the same thing every night," he finally said. "Those programs, whatever you call them, the agents, are chasing after me. Three of them. I'm running through the city, jumping over buildings, charging through apartments, leaping out windows, jaywalking . . . but they always eventually catch up with me. Two of them pin me to the wall, and the other one, he takes this syringe out of his pocket, and he says something like: 'Only human.' Then he injects something into my neck, and they all just . . . disappear."  
  
"Then you wake up?"  
  
"No, the worst part comes next. Because then I look down at my hands, and I see blood on them. But here's the thing; it's not my own blood. I have somebody else's blood on my hands. And then I look up, and there are those three agents again, standing around me. And they're actually smiling at me, like proud fathers or something." Leet shuddered. "And that's where I wake up."  
  
Arwen didn't respond, but just stared at him.  
  
"This isn't just a dream," Leet explained. "It's more than that. There is something locked away, inside my own mind, and as hard as I try, I can't reach it!"  
  
"What do you think it is? Is it the future, or-"  
  
"No, I don't believe in pre-cognition or crap like that. This is some kind of sub-conscious suggestion, hardwired into my brain. A repressed memory, maybe, or something else." He rubbed his forehead tiredly, and then suddenly nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wait, I've got it. God, I hope I'm wrong. Look, the human mind is like a computer, right? It processes information in similar ways, and so on."  
  
"Uh-"  
  
"What if you could hack into somebody's brain? Think about the possibilities, then. Think about the commands and data you could input."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
Andy paled, starting to look truly frightened. "What if the machines wanted me to wake up? What if I'm here because my mind has been hacked by a machine?" 


	9. Chapter Eight: Are Most Prophets Chain S...

Chapter Eight Are Most Prophets Chain-Smokers?  
  
Leet had been in Zion for a week now. Ever since he had talked with Arwen, however, he slept more peacefully, and was starting to get into a better mood, finally leaving his old life behind. Until, one morning, Morpheus strode into the mess hall, where Leet was giving Arwen a lecture on chaos theory.  
  
"Come," Morpheus said, towering over him. Leet jumped, and turned around. "The Oracle," Morpheus explained. "She's called for you."  
  
Leet glanced at Arwen.  
  
"Go," she said softly. "I'll be here when you get back."  
  
Leet nodded nervously, and stood up, following Morpheus back to the Nebuchadnezzar.  
  
Leet saw that he and the rest of the crew were surrounded by a large, white expanse of nothingness. Into that nothingness appeared a rack of guns. Trinity and Morpheus both selected a couple, while Neo chose to remain unarmed.  
  
"Do I get a gun?" Leet asked, shifting uncomfortably in his black suit, tie, and shirt. Although he worse sunglasses, he noticed that they didn't seem to actually darken his view of anything.  
  
"Do you want a gun?" was Morpheus's reply. Leet thought about it.  
  
"No," he replied, shaking his head. "I can't stand them. Besides," he smiled slightly as he spoke, "Batman never used a gun."  
  
Instantly, the blankness surrounding them was replaced by the first floor of an abandoned building, a ringing phone on a table in the center. Morpheus stepped forward, and picked up the phone.  
  
"We're in."  
  
Then he strode out the door, and stepped into the driver's seat of a black sedan waiting outside.  
  
Trinity and Neo waited in the car, while Morpheus and Leet went into the Oracle's apartment. Morpheus was asked to stay in the waiting room, while Leet entered the kitchen alone.  
  
The first thing he noticed once inside the kitchen was the pile of used cigarettes in the ashtray.  
  
"Uh, are most prophets chain smokers?" he asked, instantly regretting it.  
  
The Oracle laughed, as she sat at the kitchen table, and put out another cigarette. "Only when it doesn't affect you anyway." She gestured to another chair. "Sit down."  
  
Leet shifted uncomfortably, and then decided to do what she said. He waited for her to say something else.  
  
"You're an intelligent person," the Oracle said. "You don't really believe in all that crap about fate, do you?"  
  
This completely took Leet by surprise. "Uh, no, not, um, really."  
  
"Good. Because I'm not here to tell you your 'fate.' I'm here to tell you everything I know about you, that you don't know."  
  
"How-"  
  
"Because I'm the Oracle. And you want to know something even Morpheus doesn't know?"  
  
"Okay . . ."  
  
The Oracle smiled. "I'm a program. I'm a defective program, that wasn't deleted. And now I help humans figure out what to do with themselves."  
  
"But, why?"  
  
"Because that's the glitch in my programming, the defect. I've been programmed to want the humans to be freed, even if it means the extinction of my own species. But you didn't come here to learn about that. You have your own questions."  
  
"What am I supposed to do? Why was I freed?"  
  
"That question is dangerously close to sounding about fate, but I'll answer it anyway. You were freed, because of something programmed into your coding by agents. They will try to inject you with something, a command that will unlock another command in your mind."  
  
"What command?"  
  
"Kill the One."  
  
"But I'm not capable of-"  
  
"Yes you are. The machines have isolated what gives the One his abilities, and a little bit of that coding is in you. Just enough to make you deadly when activated."  
  
"How do I stop it?"  
  
"There is only one way. You have to confront that part of your mind, and master it."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"You'll have to. Here, have a cookie. It will make you feel better."  
  
Leet accepted the cookie, and was about to walk out, when he brushed past a girl entering the room, one he recognized despite the black sunglasses masking her face.  
  
"Arwen?"  
  
She turned around, and smiled, taking off her sunglasses. "Hey, Leet."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh, the Oracle contacted the captain who woke me up, said it was important, that she had to speak for me."  
  
"Oh." Leet nodded, and paused, not quite knowing what else to say. "Well, see you back at Zion." 


	10. Chapter Nine: Disconnected

Chapter Nine Disconnected  
  
"Sit down, Hon," the Oracle said to Arwen, gesturing at a chair. "Have a cookie."  
  
"I'd rather stand, thanks," Arwen replied.  
  
The Oracle shrugged. "Suit yourself. Remember what I told you the last time you came here?"  
  
"You said I was going to save Zion."  
  
"That's right. You are a link in a chain."  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"Mind if I smoke?" Without waiting for a response, the Oracle lit a cigarette. "If he fails, Neo dies. If Neo dies, Zion falls."  
  
"If who fails?"  
  
"You know who."  
  
Arwen inhaled sharply. "Leet?"  
  
The Oracle smiled. "You're smart. That's what I've always like about you. Yes, Leet. You're the only person he still trusts. Because of that, you're the only person who can save him, no matter what." She sighed. "You may have to kill him."  
  
"Kill him to save him?"  
  
"Yes. He needs you now. Go."  
  
Arwen turned, and ran out the door.  
  
Neo went first, then Trinity. Morpheus put his hand on the phone, waiting for it to ring again. When it did, he lifted the receiver up, but did not put it to his ear. Leet shrugged.  
  
"After you," he said. Morpheus put the receiver to his ear, and watched as the real world began to fade away. As it did, he saw a man in a suit walk into the abandoned building. An agent.  
  
"Mr. Weiss," the agent said, smiling down at Leet. Morpheus tried to cry out, but he was already waking up. The last thing he saw before being transported to the real world was the phone being shot. Andy was trapped into The Matrix.  
  
Okay, first real cliffhanger of the story. Assuming I get some reviews, this story will continue, picking up the pace. And Leet's life will depend on whether or not I like the reviews I'm getting. Heheh. Er, just kidding. I think it's already decided whether he lives or dies. But my decision could always change. 


	11. Chapter Ten: See Leet Run

Chapter Ten See Leet Run  
  
The agent lowered his gun, and smiled.  
  
"Mr. Weiss," he said. "Welcome back."  
  
"And who would you be? Joe Friday? The T-1000?"  
  
"My name is Agent Daniels."  
  
"Oh. Mind if I call you Danny?"  
  
Agent Daniels reached into his pocket, and took out a syringe full of a liquid resembling mercury.  
  
"You can call me whatever you want," he muttered, approaching Leet. "But 'master' is preferable."  
  
Two other agents appeared at the door. Agent Daniels froze, and put his hands behind his back.  
  
"Agent Johnson," he muttered without turning, "Agent Henderson. Take him."  
  
The two agents ran past Agent Daniels, and Leet quickly shifted in a fighting stance. His eyes shifted towards the fastest one, the one on the left. Leet assumed that was Agent Johnson. As soon as Johnson was within range, Leet lashed out with the palm of his right hand. Johnson grabbed his wrist, and began to reel him in. Leet used the momentum to strike Johnson in the stomach with both of his feet, leap off, and batter Henderson on the forehead with the balls of his feet. As both agents fell, Leet leapt into the air again. As he reached the peak of his jump, he felt time seem to freeze, or slow down, as if it had been stretched out suddenly. Leet wondered briefly if his consciousness had been heightened by the martial arts training or by some ingrained ability to bend The Matrix itself, and decided it did not mattered. He did a roundhouse kick, getting Daniels in the side of the face, and everything returned to normal.  
  
Daniels fell, and Henderson and Johnson were back on their feet, lunging for Leet. Rather thank duck, Leet leapt even higher, and crashed through the ceiling of the building, hitting dusty floorboards on the second floor. Coughing up dust, he leapt to his feet, and ran for the other side of the room, hearing agents land on the floor behind him. Two guns clicked, as Henderson and Johnson simultaneously prepared to fire.  
  
Glancing up, Leet saw he was running straight into a brick wall. He was about to curse in Yiddish, when he suddenly remembered something.  
  
That isn't a brick wall, he thought. It's a digital image of a brick wall projected into my nervous system. If I were to decide that I could break through that brick wall, nothing can really stop me. That wall isn't brick. I can break through it.  
  
He shut his eyes, and leapt, tearing off his sunglasses so they wouldn't break. He hit the brick wall, and he could hear guns firing behind him, the sound of something crumbling, and then wind on his face. He looked down, and he was being hurled over a city street, dust and chunks of brick flying all around him. A bullet whizzed by his face, and he could feel the heat from it, still warm after being fired from a gun a split second ago.  
  
"Stop!" Daniels shouted. He turned to Henderson and Johnson. "Do not kill him. Incapacitate him if necessary, but his survival is crucial to our mission."  
  
"Our medical facilities," Henderson began.  
  
"Can take care of him," Johnson continued. "No matter what the injury may be."  
  
Daniels snarled. "Duly noted."  
  
--  
  
Leet cleared the street, and crashed through another window, this time ending up in a room on the second floor of a cheap motel. A prostitute and a man in bed both looked up and screamed, in equally high-pitched voices. Leet grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Um, I'm from room service," he stammered. "Just wanted to make sure you were enjoying your stay here. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call the front desk."  
  
He glanced at the man's pants, resting on a chair in the corner. A switchblade was jutting out of one pocket.  
  
"Mind if I borrow that?" he asked, and snatched it up. "Thanks." Leet stuffed the blade in his pocket, put his sunglasses back on, adjusted his tie, and strolled out the door. The prostitute and her customer were both too stunned to chase after him. 


	12. Chapter Eleven: Nice Timing

Before this next chapter, I'd like to explain something about the character of Leet. Some people have expressed concern that he may be a Marty Sue. I can assure you this is not true. The character was thought out specifically for the purposes of the story. I made him a teenager, because that's generally when most people are supposed to wake up. I made him intelligent, and a bit of a geek, to reflect how is mind is like a computer (which, therefore, makes him similar to the agents). I gave him a sense of humor, because that seems like the only way somebody in his position would be able to stay sane. And, while some have expressed concern involving the chapter in which he loads a ridiculous amount of information into his head, it seemed like the logical thing for the character to do, as it would reflect his constant thirst for knowledge. Well, I hope that's been cleared up, and on with the show.  
  
Chapter Eleven Nice Timing  
  
Behind Leet, the prostitute and her customer became agents. He could hear the synthetic hum as the transformation began, and he started to run. Henderson and Johnson climbed out of bed, and ran after him. Leet hazarded a quick glanced over his shoulder, and leapt down the stairs, running past the clerk. Agent Daniels replaced the clerk, and hurried after Leet.  
  
As he ran out into the street, Leet heard a ringing sound, and jumped. It was coming from his pants pocket, and he pulled out a cell phone as he ran, fumbling to open it.  
  
"Leet, I've got good news, and I've got bad news," Link muttered over the phone.  
  
"Tell me the bad news first!" Link shouted, jumping over the hood of a car.  
  
"The only exit I've got available is . . . you're not going to believe this . . . in a museum. The Jefferson Arts and History Museum."  
  
"What floor?"  
  
He heard Link type something in on the other line, and sigh. "Top floor."  
  
"Crap."  
  
"Yeah. Want that good news now?"  
  
"Please." Link saw traffic approaching, and had to jump over the hood of a car, landing on the sidewalk and ignoring the shouts of the driver behind him.  
  
"I've got another rebel coming your way, this one heavily armed. I'm with her operator on the other line right now."  
  
"Do I know this person?" "Maybe. Some orphan named Arwen. She's about . . . one block away from you, headed in your direction."  
  
"Wonderful," Leet grumbled. "How far is the museum?"  
  
"Just a couple blocks. Keep heading in that direction."  
  
"How much is admission?"  
  
"Not funny."  
  
Leet stuffed the phone back in his pocket, and paused. He could hear the hum of another agent loading up, the roar of an engine. He jumped into the air, and saw an SUV pass underneath him, driven by an agent.  
  
"Why are all the maniacs driving the SUVs these days?" he grumbled, hitting the ground again. The car crashed into a wall, and Agent Johnson rolled out, firing his gun. Leet continued running.  
  
A man standing next to his hot dog stand was replaced by Agent Daniels, who stepped directly in Leet's path, drawing his gun. Leet froze, and put his hands up, as the barrel of the gun brushed against his abdomen. With his free hand, Daniels reached into his pocket, and took out the syringe, smiling.  
  
"Please, stand perfectly still," Daniels suggested. "That will make this easier on all of us."  
  
"Leet, DUCK!"  
  
Leet ducked at the sound of Arwen's voice, and a volley of bullets shot through the space Daniels had previously occupied. The agent dodged all the bullets, but gave Arwen enough time to toss another gun in Leet's direction. When Agent Daniels stopped dodging, it was Leet who was pointing the gun at his enemy's abdomen.  
  
"Tell me," Leet gasped, "what's the minimum distance from a gun at which an agent can dodge bullets from that gun?"  
  
"Depends on the gun," Daniels replied. Leet glanced down at the gun he was holding.  
  
"How 'bout a standard Desert Eagle?"  
  
Daniels named a figure in inches, then immediately converted it to the metric system.  
  
"Hm. Oh dear," Leet muttered. "The current range is considerably smaller than that."  
  
He fired the gun. Daniels was replaced by a surprised hot dog vendor, who slumped to the ground, unconscious. Leet stuffed the gun in his pocket, and glanced at Arwen, who was running towards him. Much to his surprise, she quickly embraced him. Leet, unsure of how to respond, went completely rigid.  
  
"Thank god," she muttered, letting go of him. "That was a close one." She brushed a few strands of hair away from her face, and Leet cleared his throat uncomfortably.  
  
"Uh, where'd you get all the hardware?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, Lieutenant Ghost gave it to me on my way out of the Oracle's. He could tell I was in a hurry, so . . ."  
  
"You ran straight here from the Oracle's?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Did she say something about me?"  
  
"She said you were in danger, and that . . . you needed me."  
  
Leet nodded, surprised. "Oh." He paused. "Uh, come on, I know where the exit is."  
  
He started walking briskly, and Arwen caught up alongside him. "It's in that museum, right?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, it is." A banner attached to a streetlight caught his attention, and he glanced up.  
  
JAHM EXHIBIT: NINJAS AND SAMURAI; THE WARRIORS OF FEUDAL JAPAN  
  
Leet stared up at the banner, and grinned. "Arwen," he muttered. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
  
"If the other agents follow us there," Arwen began.  
  
"Time to put that kendo to good use." 


	13. Chapter Twelve: Museum

Chapter Twelve Museum  
  
Arwen and Leet pushed their way through the crowds of museum goers, ignoring the cries of dismay and irritation following them. Once they were inside the museum, a woman at the front desk informed them that it was ten dollars to get inside the museum, and five more dollars to see the special exhibit on feudal Japan. Arwen and Leet ignored her, and ran into the museum. Behind them, Agent Daniels stepped out of the line, speaking into his earpiece.  
  
"They're going to try to get to the top floor," he muttered. "Seal off the elevators."  
  
Then a confused man replaced him as he phased into one of the elevators, and hit the emergency red button that halted it. Johnson and Henderson did the same for all the other elevators.  
  
Leet and Arwen ran through the enormous main hall, chased after by three pudgy security guards. As they neared five elevators, Arwen and Leet punched the silver "up" buttons on two separate elevators. Neither of them moved. As the guards drew closer, they hit the buttons on the other three elevators. Nothing happened.  
  
"Shit," Leet muttered. "Stairs?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
The door to the stairwell opened, and Agent Daniels appeared, flanked by Agent Henderson and Agent Johnson.  
  
"Or not." Leet and Arwen whirled around to see the three security guards approaching. Drawing in deep breaths, they punched and kicked their way through the guards, and began running to the feudal Japan exhibit. Henderson and Johnson drew their guns.  
  
"Only shoot at the girl," Daniels ordered.  
  
They both began to fire.  
  
Arwen heard the gunshots, and glanced at Leet. "Keep running," she ordered. "I'll cover you."  
  
"But-"  
  
"DO IT!"  
  
Leet continued to run, and ducked into the exhibit. Arwen whirled around, drew two Desert Eagles, and began to fire.  
  
Leet, now inside the exhibit, glanced around and saw two katanas displayed inside a glass case. He tore off his jacket, wrapped it around his hand, and punched through the case, grabbing the two katanas.  
  
Leet heard the firing stop, two dry clicks, and then several more gunshots.  
  
"Oh shit," he muttered, running out into the open. He saw Arwen on the ground, and the three agents training their guns on him. He ran forward, ignoring the bullets whizzing by him, and then plunged both katanas into Daniels. He appeared mildly surprised, and then turned into another unconscious human, as Leet whirled around and quickly perforated Henderson and Johnson with his twin blades.  
  
Leet ran back to Arwen, dropped his katanas, and knelt beside her. She glanced up at him, and muttered irritably.  
  
"You okay?" he asked.  
  
"Ow. Yeah, I'm fine." She struggled to sit up. "Just a few flesh wounds. Gimme your tie."  
  
Andy took off his tie without questioning her, and she tied it around a wound on her arm.  
  
"There," she muttered, allowing Andy to help her to her feet. "That should take care of it until we reach the real world." She staggered, and Andy grabbed one of her shoulders, glancing down at another bullet wound in her abdomen.  
  
"That's nothing," she explained. "Just a flesh wound." She glanced at the three unconscious humans lying where the agents had been. "You took care of all three of them?"  
  
"Yeah. Guess they weren't expecting me to come at them with a katana."  
  
"You're talking as if it isn't such a big deal."  
  
"It is?"  
  
"Shit, Andy, nobody's killed three agents at once before."  
  
"Well, nobody's tried it with two katanas." He picked them up, and offered one to Arwen.  
  
"You keep 'em," she suggested. "I'll just stick with my guns." She produced two more guns from her jacket. "The stairs are probably clear now."  
  
Leet nodded. "Probably. Let's go." 


End file.
